To Skin a Cat
by rubie
Summary: And AU fic, branching from the first arc. Omi, at a moment of indesicion, makes a mistake. Schwartz uses this opportunity to turn Weiss against themselves...


/../ flashbacks  
  
Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
To Skin a Cat  
co authored by Neil and Rubie  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
[Some say, "The wait is the most arduous part of the hunt."]  
  
Hunting creates an exhiliartion that is unmatched by any other. The rush, the alacrity, the  
anticipation for the kill weaves a sense of fulfillment; an illusion that is free from the  
chains of reality. It becomes an obsession, a thrill, a drug that is never enough, and always  
too puissant.  
  
But waiting was slow and painful, with every muscle in his body taunt. Omi mentally  
assessed the range of his dart, compensating for a southeastern wind, the seventh time  
since positioning himself under the shadow of a bridge railing. He unconsciously brushed  
his fingers over his crossbow again, removing the nonexistent dust.  
  
Waiting made him think. He didn't want to think. Those memories, images, voices...  
everything came in a overwhelming wave that threatened to drown everything else. He  
had to escape. To keep hiding in the dark.   
  
And the world around him was taking deep and gentle breaths, almost taunting him in its  
forbearance. The night was like a perfect fixture of transparent glass: cold and painfully  
clear. The sea below him swayed the bridge with soft hands in perfect silence. The echos  
of a boat's motor drifted with startling clarity to his ears, the sound stirring the air like a  
pebble falling into the waters of a secluded pond.  
  
And he could feel the lingering bite of rough rope around his wrists, and that desperate,  
burning frustrating that came with helplessness. He could feel the sting of cold metal  
against his ribs, and those angry, accusing eyes that screamed at him. Tomorrow, his back  
would be a canvas of black an blue ink.  
  
His brother hated him. And he thought he loved him.  
  
/"Hey, hey, I want to go too!"/  
  
/"Horseback riding? You're only six! Wait at home, I'll be back by nine."/  
  
/"But I want to go!"/  
  
/"I won't be gone that long. It's only a friend's birthday party, and they'll be mad if I  
brought my little brother along. Go bother Masafumi."/  
  
/"But... he looks at me funny. And when you're not home, Father always seems so  
angry."/  
  
/"... does he? You know what? My friend has a little brother your age. I'll take you to his  
house, and you can spend your day with him. How's that?"/  
  
"Shut up!" he hissed.  
  
He kicked at a discarded beer bottle, forgetten in darkness, wincing slightly when his side  
protested. It flew skyward, shimmering vividly under the soft glow of the moon, before  
falling from the bridge to the waters below.  
  
Hirofumi was a cruel and corrupt politican who would stop at nothing to achieve his  
goals. His family had hurt Aya-kun's entire family, and caused the team numerous  
problems in the past. He was a target, and like all other targets, he was a mere doll to be  
kicked aside, so that its shadow was no longer obscuring the world below. How was  
Hirofumi any different?  
  
He was going to hunt a dark beast today.  
  
/"Onii-chan, what changed you?"/  
  
He was going to kill his brother today.  
  
And in the distance, a flailing bird screamed.  
  
  
[Some say, "Light only burns when you hide from it."]  
  
Tires screeched. A soft glow betrayed a car's headlights, approaching steadily. The target  
was approaching.  
  
/"Do you want to play a game, Mamoru? Lets play a game. Father gave me some free  
time today."/  
  
The was a dull ringing in his ears. Omi shook his head to clear it. He had to complete the  
mission; he had to take out the target. Otherwise, what would Aya-kun, Yoji-kun, and  
Ken-kun say?  
  
He was going to take out the target, go home and greet his brother with a smile. He would  
hide from his father, and that anger that seemed to always be directed towards him. No..  
what was he thinking about? He didn't have a family. Weiss was the closest thing to a  
family that he'd ever have. After this mission, he was going to force a smile on his face..  
and his mother was going to make cookies. He didn't like her cookies. She would always  
burn them for some odd reason; she could never time it right. Brother made the best  
cookies, but he never seemed to have time to make them. Then...  
  
/"Okay! What shall we play?"/  
  
/"What do you want? It's up to you."/  
  
/"I dunno... whatever you like to play."/  
  
/"No, Mamoru, you decide. You should make your own decisions, instead of always  
doing what you think makes another happy."/  
  
"Stop it!" Omi whispered. "Go away. Just leave me alone..."  
  
Did he truly hate his brother? Or was this bitterness something from Aya-kun and the  
other teammates? Did he really want his brother to die?  
  
But his brother beat him! His brother hated him...  
  
His hands shook. The crossbow rattled in his grasp. Omi fumbled with the bolt, locking it  
in place with unsteady fingers. The night watched him in obvious amusement, the sky  
rippling like a thick muck of deep blue paint. The night air felt thick and stifling, as if  
solid ice was forced in his mouth at every breath. His throat was raw, his blood cold, but  
then a scalding heat would wash over him, shooting up from his fingertips and his arms,  
pooling in his back. Mismatched colors danced in front of his eyes, following the waves  
of hot and cold as if they were the chords of some discordant song.  
  
Perhaps he should have had Aya-kun do this mission. But they had placed their trust in  
him. They had been beginning to suspect him the past few days, stealing wry and uneasy  
glances at him whenever they thought he wasn't looking. And he would wince inwardly  
at those eyes, cringe at that unsettling silence. But they believed in him now, and he  
wasn't going to let them down. He couldn't...  
  
/"I don't know..."/  
  
/"Okay, how's hide-and-go-seek, then? Lets play hide-and-go-seek."/  
  
The crossbow was leveled to his eye, the trigger waiting impatiently. His finger lingered  
in mid air...   
  
And the car slowly crawled into view, accelerating as it drew nearer. The headlights  
swirled like a disturbed reflection from a pool of water. The lights were blurring, surging,  
growing strange arms that reached across the skies to tear at his face and cloud his vision.  
The buzzing in his ears rose to an incessant howl. He could feel the blood pounding in his  
ears, matching the lights that seemed to flow with waves of blazing brightness. He felt the  
familar rush that came before each hunt, that anticipation...  
  
What would he become... after he killed the only family that ever loved him in his past?   
  
/"But we play that in school all the time."/  
  
The headlights were burning his eyes, blinding him in their intensity. The car reminded  
him strangely of those demons in his dreams, its glow promising fraudulent comfort. And  
once they neared, they would claw at him, hurt him, make him bleed. And he would run  
far far away and...   
  
His mind snapped back into focus. The car was dangerously close, and if waited any  
longer, the mission would collapse in an absolute disaster. At the speed the bolt would  
travel, the windshield may have been already be too hard to penetrate. It was too close...  
too close...  
  
A soft click.  
  
The silver flew gracefully, flashing with wild colors. It struck the glass at an impossible  
angle, before it was flung carelessly into the sky.  
  
/"Yeah, but you have a bad habit of hiding yourself so completely that you get lost.  
What's the point of hiding to protect yourself, if you lose yourself in the process?"/  
  
The wind brushed its body past him angrily, dragging its fingers roughly through his hair.  
The car streaked past him, flinging out his coat wildly.  
  
Mission failed.  
  
  
[Some say, "A cat will never be free from its skin."]  
  
  
End teaser  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Rubie: Muhahahaha.. I FINALLY got a workable draft for the teaser!!! I wrote 16 drafts  
of it so you'd BETTER be happy.  
Neil: I didn't make you write that many!  
Rubie: ...Where's your scene one?  
Neil: ...  
Rubie: EEEEEEEEH?!?! You suck!!!  
  
*sigh... well.. it appears that Neil-san STILL hasn't gotten anything written for scene one,  
and since I have no clue how it ends, I can't write scene 2. Cahpter 1 is still... ack..  
If you get impaitent, direct all  
death threats to Neil-san... oops.. I forgot him email address... accccck....  
  
Rubie: *sigh... I would like to put: implied yaoi, but Neil-san, unfortunately, being the  
corrupted Americanized guy he is...  
Neil: ... I resent that...  
Rubie: ...but denys, is completely homophobic... I guess part of that is he is male and  
doesn't want to admit that he has the possibilty of being gay. Neil! We're NOT saying  
that you're gay... can't we pleeeeeeeease? Just implied?  
Neil: Then we'll hafta have yuri...  
Rubie: NO!!  
  
Umm.. I'm still trying to convert Neil-san to yaoi-ism... or at least allow some implied  
yaoi... and I'm making him watch any manga and/or anime with yaoi that I can get my  
hands on at the moment... *cough.. you didn't hear that Neil. Wait.. you're not part of this  
mailing list so I can say anything I want! Muhahahaha!! Wait! this is ff.net... oops...  
Uhh... I didn't drink any coffee.. really.. I didn't...  
  
Originally, there was more to the ending but... ack... got lazy. Umm.. Neil-san and I are  
swaping, so I write teaser, Neil writes scene one, I write scene two, etc. The title will be  
explained later... False was originally part of this, but it was me on 4 cups of seven up and  
I went off on a tangent... .  
  
This AU was something that we've been planning for about a month now.. or I started  
with an odd idea and kidnapped Neil to watch the entire weiss kreuz series and write this  
with me. 0=) But he's not complaining! He isn't! Really, he isn't!! .;;  



End file.
